This FIQWS course was one of the first college courses that I have taken as a college student.  After high school, I took a two-year gap before starting college due to the passing of my older brother.  A decision I thought was the best choice to make at the time, but now regret.  This gap in my education has affected all the things I’ve learned in school throughout the years.  With that on my mind, I was afraid of this writing intensive class. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep up with the class and primarily only took it because it was a required course.

Now, five months into the course and at the end, I couldn’t have been more glad. This course has not only refreshed my memory on everything I learned in terms of writing, but it has also taught me many things as well.  The eight main things I have learned are outlined in the syllabus as Course Learning Outcomes.

The first would be how to “explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations”.  Throughout my previous 12 years of education, I have to admit that I was not aware of all the genres and rhetorical situations that someone can write in. This course challenged me to write in ways that I have never done so before.

The second Course Learning Outcome that was reinforced in this course was to “develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing”.  For our first writing assignment, another one of our peers was given the chance to read our paper and make comments on it.  This not only allowed us to get to know each other, but also give us a perspective of how another reader, besides the professor, viewed our writing. In addition, we were encouraged to visit the Writing Center and get help from others. This did not mean that we were bad writers, rather gave us the opportunity to see how others viewed our writing.  The comments made on our papers only helped us to write better.

Also, I adapted a new technique in the way I wrote my drafts.  Prior to this course, a draft was just something I wrote to answer the prompt and get an assignment turned in.  However, this course has taught me that drafts are what we work off of.  If we put in our best when writing the draft, we will be receiving comments on a piece very close to our final.  Reading the comments and editing our draft only makes our finals not only easier, but stronger pieces as well.

The third outcome of this class was to “recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations”.  Reading “The Norton Field Guide to Writing” by Richard Bullock, taught me various rhetorical situations.  This book broke down the different situations and allowed us to analyze it.  This allowed us to not only recognize these terms, but also taught us strategies to incorporate it into our writing.

The fourth Course Learning Outcome was to “engage in the collaborative and social aspect of writing processes”.  Being able to have others read our assignments and give us comments aided in reinforcing this outcome and helped us make fixes in our writing that we otherwise would not have caught on our own.

The fifth outcome of this writing course was to “understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences”.  This was another big thing that I have learned throughout this course.  My Research Critical Analysis was one paper in specific where I had to focus on this.  My introductory paragraph, as noted by Professor Clark, seemed as if I was talking to a live audience rather than a reader. As I read it over, I believed it was a great hook, but elaborating on the topic a little bit more would aid in addressing the reader as well.  I made this fix to my essay and after rereading it, I realized this change had made my essay the ability to address a broader range of audiences.

The sixth Course Learning Outcome was one that we learned in a session in the library.  We learned to “located research sources in the library’s databases or archives and on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness and bias”.  This has helped me throughout my other classes as well and is definitely one of the outcomes of this course that I will need throughout the rest of my college education.  Before taking this course, I was not even aware that a library database existed and how helpful it would be for research.

The seventh outcome of this course was to “compose texts that integrate your stance and appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation”.  This was most relevant in our last essay which was the Researched Critical Analysis essay.  After doing research, I used the articles and incorporated them in my writing to back up my stance.  This allowed my argument to be stronger and show the reader why I took this stance.

The last outcome of this course was to “practice systematic application of citation conventions”. This was an outcome that we practiced in a majority of our writing.  Whenever we used research in our writing or someone else’s thoughts, we made sure to cite them.  This is the works cited section of a majority of our writing.

All in all, I have learned many things throughout this course.  These include the Course Learning Outcomes, but I also learned time management skills, as well as how beneficial the writing center is.  Time management has been something I struggled with throughout my life.  I was always aware of this, but never tried figuring out how to fix it.  We did a lesson in this class about time management and this lesson has taught me how to prevent myself from procrastination.  Not only does this affect the quality of assignment, but procrastination is also a mental strain for me.  The writing center has also been a great help for me this semester. The people there are very nice and effective as well.  They have taught me ways to better and strengthen my writing, not only for a better grade, but also pointed out things that I will be cautious of as I continue to write throughout my education.  FIQWS 10113 has taught me lessons and given me strategies that I will carry all throughout my college education and my career as well.  I course I was scared to take has turned into a course I am glad I didn’t miss.

(Download Here: Self-Reflection)